Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Publishers Lunch

Sales rebounded somewhat at
HarperCollins in the parent company News Corp.'s fiscal third quarter, ending
March 31, with revenues of $374 million. That's a $16 million gain from the
same quarter a year ago, though that was a poor period for Harper; in the same
quarter in fiscal 2015 sales were $402 million. And $7 million of the quarter's
gain came from the impact of international acquisitions. In the conference
call with investors, executives admitted that sales of Veronica Roth's Carve the Mark, while a
contributor to the quarter, "were off to a slower start than
anticipated." In the coming quarter, though Harper has new releases from
Michael Crichton and David Williams, they "will have fewer frontlist
titles [of note] than the prior year."

EBITDA did not bounce back as much, at $37 million -- compared to $36 million a
year ago, and $56 million in the same quarter two years ago. Digital sales
comprised 22 percent on revenues.

News Corp. had overall sales of $1.98 billion, up from $1.89 billion in the
prior year, and they were break-even on continuing operations, compared to
($128) million loss in the prior year. Results were ahead of analysts' expectations
and the stock rose after hours as a result.Release

Hillary Clinton is the "American Icon" appearing onstage at Book
Expo that fair organizers have been teasing recently. "An Evening with
Hillary Rodham Clinton," or rather an hour with her, is scheduled for
convention's Main Stage on Thursday, June 1, from 6 to 7 PM (right when
everyone's parties start). Attendance requires a separate ticket, and is open
to registered Book Expo badgeholders only.

Vice president audio sales for Simon & Schuster Ken Oxenreider will
retire on June 30.
He has worked at Simon & Schuster for 40 years, and exclusively on audio
for 20.

Jeramie Orton has been promoted to assistant editor for Pamela Dorman
Books and Viking.

Former ceo of Penguin Putnam Phyllis
Grann has written a children's book, I Will Talk To You, Little One,
with artwork by Tomie dePaola. Grann has custom published the book with Simon
& Schuster Children's Little Simon imprint and is donating over 200,000
copies to New York's City's First Readers Initiative, for distribution as a
gift to families of newborns at 27 hospitals serving high-needs neighborhoods
across New York. The project was inspired by Grann's late sister, Mary
Kasindorf, an early childhood educator: "This book is my tribute to Mary
and my gift to parents of newborns, encouraging them to talk and read to their
precious babes." Literacy, Inc. is the facilitating partner for City's
First Readers, and honors Grann at their benefit tonight.

BooksellingThe bookstore that will succeed Memphis's Booksellers at Laurelwood in
the same location will be called Novel.
The group of 20 local owners plans an August 1 opening in a redesigned space
that will be, according
to co-owner Christy Yarbro, "smaller and more compact and more
modern." The store will rehire many staff from the previous store,
including manager Eddie Burton.